I got your site from one of your customers. I want to set up a composting system on our deck here, but want to make sure that it doesn’t have flies, and that it works on a balcony.

We have a staff of about 60, so we produce a fair amount of compost.

What can you do to help set us up properly over here. Keep in mind, we are a non-profit.

A collection bucket in the kitchen can hold the food waste until it is full. At that point, it can be placed in 5 – 6 gallon plastic pail [HDPE 2] and bokashi sprinkled on top. This will start the fermentation process and keep the flies and smells down as more material is added. A 5 – 6 gallon pail will fill up in about 7 – 10 days. Bokashi can be added to the kitchen collection bucket as well.

When the 5 gallon bucket is full, it needs to sit for about 10 – 14 days to finish fermenting. At that point it can be added to a composting system for finishing.

The biggest challenge will be processing all the collected bokashi compost material. If you have the space, it can be done but it may work just as well to give some of the full buckets to your staff to process in their own compost bins at home. One of my customers, the AIBC office http://www.aibc.ca , does that now.

If you want to grow food successfully in containers, nurturing soil life can make a huge difference. Worm compost, for example, is full of microbes and life. Add it to your containers and you will get more vigorous growth, and far fewer pest and disease problems. Discovering this, was the biggest turning point in my growing (more important, even, than self watering containers), transforming sporadic successes into something more consistent.

Why is soil life important?

Healthy organic soil in the natural world supports a web of life including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes as well as larger creatures like worms and slugs. These organisms play a vital role in the life of plants. They break down organic matter to make the nutrients available for plant roots. They condition the soil and create air spaces and tunnels in it – improving aeration and drainage. And they compete with other more harmful organisms in the soil, ones that will damage your plants if left unchecked.

Soil life is complex – so the above is just my attempt to summarise some of the main benefits you can expect when you add life to your containers!

Why do you need to add life to containers?

Most commercial composts that we buy are sterilised and low in microbial life. So is municipal compost (it has to be made at hot temperatures to kill pathogens, killing much of the beneficial life, too). So if you want life in your containers – and to mimic soil in the natural world – you need to add it.

1. Worm compost

2. Homemade compost

3. Leaf mould

4. Manure

5. Bokashi

Bokashi is Japanese method of composting food quickly in a tightly sealed bucket. Benefits of bokashi are that you can add almost any food (even meat), it works quickly, can be done in a very small space, and doesn’t smell (much). The drawbacks are that you need to buy bokashi bran for it to work, and the pickled product is not as versatile as worm compost. But you can add it to the bottom of containers to add both organic matter and microorganisms.

Mix about 10 – 20% into the compost in the bottom third of a container.